Bards target Football League keeper deal

GOALKEEPER Jake Weaver could miss up to three games after he suffered a head injury during Stratford Town’s victory over Royston Town on Saturday.

The 27-year-old former Birmingham City youngster, who has also played for Leamington and Rushall Olympic, had to be helped from the field after being floored for nearly ten minutes midway through the first half following a collision with visiting striker Eduard Toiny-Pendred.

Bards skipper Paul McCone took over between the posts with no replacement keeper on the bench and although rookie Maxx Clutterbuck has been named among the substitutes previously, the club are likely to seek a loan signing from a Football League side to see them through the next few games with key matches against Barwell, Bishops Stortford and AFC Sudbury on the horizon.

One option could be Oxford United’s Jacob Knightbridge. The 21-year-old former England u18 international began his career at West Ham United before signing for the Championship side in the summer. He has since been on loan at Braintree Town in the National League.

He is thought to be the number one choice having played alongside fellow Oxford loanee Aaron Lacey who has established himself as a key element of Stratford’s defence since linking up at the end of January.

Speaking after the game, head coach Paul Davis was relieved that Weaver was able to walk away from the ground rather than head to hospital in an ambulance.

“When you see blue lights coming into the ground during a game then you do worry,” Davis admitted.

“It was one of those incidents which, thankfully, you don’t see too often. The Petr Cech one sticks in my mind when he’s been caught by a knee and this was similar although thankfully the player has caught him in the nose which took the brunt of the force. He has been seen by the paramedics, had oxygen, a cup of tea and a Mars bar and he has his colour back.

“I thought for the first 15 minutes we were brilliant and probably should have scored. But when something like that happens, it was important to call the players in so that they were away from Jake as sometimes it can affect you when one of your friends is down needing medical attention.

“Royston had the better of the game then and we panicked a bit emotionally so it was important to get in at half-time and reset and re-evaluate. My message to the players was that there have been games this season where Weavo hasn’t had to do anything so if we do everything we need to do as a team then Macca [McCone] won’t have to do anything. I thought he was brilliant with what he needed to do and he marshalled the back line really well from where he was but he’s not had to make too many saves.”

Davis also praised teenager Lacey who impressed once again.

“I thought Aaron was brilliant on his debut against Halesowen and then at Lowestoft last week it was a different test for him.

“The reason he is here on loan is to learn men’s football and when you have Paul McCone next to you you can float through a game because he tells you where to go. But when Macca went in goal I thought he [Lacey] stepped up and became a man. I think he won every header and he was also making last ditch tackles when they got in behind.”